Brother of IB staffer killed in Delhi violence seeks police protection for family

The brother of 26-year-old Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma, whose body was pulled out of a drain in northeast Delhi's riot-hit Chand Bagh, has sought police protection for his family after accusing former AAP counsellor Tahir Hussain and his associates of being behind the killing.

"Hussain and his associates killed my brother. They are very powerful people and I want protection for my family for them. I asked for security and they (police) sent it, but right now we are in our village in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah," Ankit Sharma's elder brother Ankur said.

Ankit's father Devendra, who also works with the Intelligence Bureau, had said that his son returned home around 5.30 pm on Tuesday and soon after left to assess the situation outside. However, for hours, he did not return.

"When he did not return, we started looking for him. We also went to the GTB and LNJP (Lok Nayak Jai Prakash) hospitals to check whether he was admitted, but could not find him.

"We kept searching for him till 3 am on Wednesday. Later around 10 am, we got information that his body was lying in the Chand Bagh drain. We never thought that he will be killed," he had said.

Ankur Sharma said, "I want the culprits to be hanged. The state and central government should give martyr status to my brother."

On Thursday, the AAP suspended Tahir Hussain from the primary membership of the party till the police completed its probe.

The death toll in Delhi's communal violence rose to 42 on Friday as the situation showed some signs of returning to normalcy and clouds of smoke cleared to reveal the extent of the damage from the worst riots in the city in over three decades.

A total of 148 FIRs have been registered and 630 people have been either arrested or detained so far in connection with the communal violence, a Delhi Police spokesperson said. PTI NIT NSD